What is Multi-Level Byzantine Fault Tolerance (Theta Network)?

Multi-Level Byzantine Fault Tolerance is Theta's consensus mechanism that utilizes a small subset of nodes to speed up approvals and is therefore faster and more resource-efficient than traditional Proof-of-Work (PoW) networks. The configuration relies on a smaller subset of 10-20 nodes, called the "Validator Committee," to give the initial approval of a transaction before passing it on to the "Guardian Pool" — a much larger group of nodes responsible for fully validating transactions and adding them to Theta's blockchain ledger. This design helps achieve a balance between transaction throughput, consistency, and decentralization.